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Washington: US War Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Australia for its next $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) cheque to stimulate American shipbuilding as part of the AUKUS agreement, as ministers met in Washington for the 40th annual AUSMIN talks.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also praised fresh “momentum” in the US-Australia alliance after October’s successful meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, during which Trump confirmed the AUKUS pact was “full steam ahead”.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of annual AUSMIN talks in Washington.Credit: AP
Rubio and Hegseth are meeting Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles for yearly high-level talks between the two allies that began under the leadership of Ronald Reagan and Bob Hawke.
The encounter comes days after the Pentagon finalised its five-month review of the AUKUS partnership, a deal brokered under then president Joe Biden and then prime minister Scott Morrison in 2021.
The review, which has not been made public, endorsed the scope and timeline of the deal but stressed it was critical for each of the three parties – the US, Australia and the UK – to meet their deadlines.
On the current timeline, Australia is to purchase three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US starting in 2032, and then produce new AUKUS-class submarines with the UK in the 2040s.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed the imminent delivery of another $US1 billion cheque from Australia for submarine building.Credit: AP
But the US defence industrial base has struggled for years to produce enough boats for its own needs, let alone enough to divert some to Australia. Hence, under the agreement, Australia will inject $US3 billion of cash ($4.5 billion on current exchange rates) into US shipbuilding.
“We applaud Australia’s upcoming delivery of an additional $US1 billion to help expand US submarine production capacity,” Hegseth said in a brief joint press conference ahead of the Monday (Tuesday AEDT) meeting. “We’re strengthening AUKUS so it works for America, for Australia and for the UK.”
The first $US1 billion was delivered in two separate payments this year, following an agreed timeline – despite earlier uncertainty about AUKUS under the Trump administration.
This masthead reported on the weekend that the Pentagon’s AUKUS review, led by sceptical undersecretary Elbridge Colby, had to be significantly rewritten to conform to Trump’s enthusiasm for the deal.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles: “A central part of what we have sought to do in the defence space is to increase the US footprint in Australia.”Credit: AP
The Australian reported on Tuesday that Morrison made personal behind-the-scenes efforts to shore up the agreement – his signature foreign policy achievement – with the Pentagon.
Hegseth touted increasing defence co-operation between the US and Australia, including additional rotations of US Air Force bombers through bases in Queensland and the Northern Territory, more rotational deployments of US Marines and deeper co-operation on producing guided missiles, including hypersonic attack cruise missiles.
Marles said that at every AUSMIN meeting since Labor was elected in 2022, “a central part of what we have sought to do in the defence space is to increase the US footprint in Australia”.
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Rubio said there was “real momentum” in the alliance since the Trump-Albanese meeting, which included the inking of a critical minerals framework to help diversify rare earth supply chains away from China.
“It’s at the cornerstone of everything we plan to do together in the months and years to come,” Rubio said. “We truly have no better friend.”
He also affirmed the US stood by the Quad - a diplomatic partnership comprising the US, Australia, Japan and India. That is despite a planned leaders’ summit this year being abandoned amid friction between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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